Who Lived In It? Who Owned It?

Who Lived In It?

Use the name of the possible owner or occupant of your property to check the city directories backward and forward from the water date to determine whether that person lived at that address, the length of occupancy of that person, as well as his or her occupation. "Reverse directories," which list the owner or occupant by street address, appear in the directories beginning in 1953.

Street Address Lists & House and Street Directory - Lists addresses alphabetically by street name, with the name of the person or business at that location.

After verifying the Assembly District in which the house was sited, you may find the address, name, age, political affiliation, and sometimes the occupation of the building occupants. Note: 48-hour notice required for access to 1945-64.

Through Ancestry Library Edition (available at the Main Library and Branches only) search the California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968 database. For San Francisco the database covers 1900–1940. The database can be searched using the address in quotes through the keyword function.

United States Federal Census - available through HeritageQuest Online (from outside of the library, San Francisco Public Library card and PIN are required to access the database).